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Fountain pen - recommendations

H

HackneyE9

Active Member
I've got a £20 gift voucher for WHSmugs from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket, and I notice they still sell some fountain pens and ink in amongst all the celeb tie-in books and DVDs.

Haven't had one since I was at school, and that was just a cheapo job, but they are nice to write with.

Anyone got any suggestions or recommendations for makes, or catridges vs ink bottles, or anything really?

It's going to be a little treat to myself. :)
 
Mont Blanc are ok...;)

Lamy pens are in your budget and pretty nice.

these babies are lush, but for drawing rather than writing.

take.jpg


Tbh though the only fountain pens you'll find in WHshite are Parkers, which are ok but nowt special.
 
Cheers, Cid. Just wanted to use the voucher to get something I wouldn't 'ordinairily' think of getting. The voucher was from an auntie, needless to say.
 
Check the small print, iirc (I haven't recieved one in ages thank fuck :p) some vouchers are for multiple shops.
 
I recently bought myself a nice fountain pen off ebay after years of managing with biros, and it's bloody lovely to write with one again. It's not even an expensive fancy one, but it's so much nicer than biro or ballpoint. I recommend it.
 
I hate breaking the quill by accident :)

At school we used to trap a cartridge inbetween two tables, then slam the two tables together, causing the ink to shoot up to the ceiling :)

Or, pop the ball in with the tip of the biro (or just cut the top off the cartridge - even better) then throw the cartridge across the class at an unsuspecting victim :)

ahhh the good old days of ink-based mischief
 
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HackneyE9 said:
Is there a snob value to filling from ink bottles, or are cartridges OK though?
Click to expand...

I use cartridges. Bottles of ink are a pain in the arse, cartridges are much simpler. It's the exact same ink.
 
I have a Parker, given to me by pickman's model after I noticed at a pub quiz that he wrote with a proper pen and had lovely writing. It's a small but tangible pleasure to use a proper pen. I don't use it that often at work, because pens go walkabout in schools, I find. I like to write up my gardening notes and records with it though.
 
I had a Mont Blanc for my 21st, but it rolled through an open window and smashed to pieces :eek:
I now make do with a variety of Rotrings. So much nice that biros.
 
Fountain pen?

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=5714785#post5714785

This is a continuation of the earlier thread above, where someone sought other Urbanites' advice about what type of pen to get with a W H Smith voucher.

Probably should poll it, but I'm too tired to bother atm. What type of writing instrument do you mainly use, and why? Fountain pen, ballpoint, biro, fibre tip or gel pen? Pencil?

I love fountain pens and have got a few nice ones (mainly two Parker 51s and a Waterman Gentleman), but so much of the paper I have to write on (official forms etc.) simply won't accommodate free-flowing ink. It either spreadsion or penetrates the paper.

Over to you.
 
I use a variety - I love pens, pencils and writing. Over the years I've been given some lovely pens and pencils as gifts ... Mont Blanc, Sheaffer, Cross.
 
I've had Sheaffer and Cross pens in the past, both good (I left the Sheaffer, a Targa with a gold nib, in the launderette about three years ago and someone evidently said "Finder's keepers).:mad:

Mont Blancs have nice nibs but I'm not so keen on the body - they break and you apparently can't post the cap on the back of the body properly (on Meisterstucks anyway). It falls off.

I've got an old Osmiroid school pen (a 75) which is a bit chipped but still writes pretty well even though it's only got a steel nib. You don't have to spend a fortune.
 
I hate using biros. Like really, really hate them. I always use a gel ink pen, pilot or staedtler, or a fountain pen

*pen snob and proud*
 
Meltingpot said:
I've had Sheaffer and Cross pens in the past, both good (I left the Sheaffer, a Targa with a gold nib, in the launderette about three years ago and someone evidently said "Finder's keepers).:mad:

Mont Blancs have nice nibs but I'm not so keen on the body - they break and you apparently can't post the cap on the back of the body properly (on Meisterstucks anyway). It falls off.

I've got an old Osmiroid school pen (a 75) which is a bit chipped but still writes pretty well even though it's only got a steel nib. You don't have to spend a fortune.
Click to expand...

You definitely don't have to spend a fortune, some of my favourites that have kept going for years and years are plastic ones that I just bought because I liked the colour :D
 
I've used a Parker fountain pen for a couple of years now at work. It only cost about a tenner but it has done me well.
 
I mostly use a Space Pen these days. I prefer the actual feel of writing with a fountain pen - but cheap ones, or ones that are carried around in pockets and bags, frequently end up with irregular ink flow, and there's nothing more fucking annoying than having to keep shaking the thing or it cuts out in the middle of a word.

Also, lots of notebook paper is a bit thin for any decent fountain pen, and the ink shows through, as mentioned on the most recent notebook thread.

Space Pens just feel like decent biros to write with initially, but as you use them more, you realise that they're never scratchy or irregular - all the tiny little bothersome bits of writing a lot have been engineered out (that's the point of them really). The refills last forever and the pens are tough, and not _so_ expensive that you'd be really appalled if you lost one. They also write on pretty much anything in the same way regardless of paper quality.

If I was at a desk all the time I'd use a good fountain pen and a nice book or block of heavyweight paper, but I'm not.
 
pootle said:
I hate using biros. Like really, really hate them. I always use a gel ink pen, pilot or staedtler, or a fountain pen

*pen snob and proud*
Click to expand...

If you do crosswords or Sudoku puzzles a lot, you need a biro or ballpen IMO. Gel pens have too broad a tip for the little boxes and fountain pen ink spreads badly on newspaper.

I'm not crazy about ballpoints (my handwriting goes to pot when I use one, for a start), but sometimes they're the practical option.
 
missfran said:
I've used a Parker fountain pen for a couple of years now at work. It only cost about a tenner but it has done me well.
Click to expand...

Parker do some good cheap pens. I used to like the "15" which was only a school pen but fitted my hand well.
 
Thanks to everyone who's replied thus far.

FridgeMagnet said:
I mostly use a Space Pen these days. I prefer the actual feel of writing with a fountain pen - but cheap ones, or ones that are carried around in pockets and bags, frequently end up with irregular ink flow, and there's nothing more fucking annoying than having to keep shaking the thing or it cuts out in the middle of a word.

Also, lots of notebook paper is a bit thin for any decent fountain pen, and the ink shows through, as mentioned on the most recent notebook thread.

Space Pens just feel like decent biros to write with initially, but as you use them more, you realise that they're never scratchy or irregular - all the tiny little bothersome bits of writing a lot have been engineered out (that's the point of them really). The refills last forever and the pens are tough, and not _so_ expensive that you'd be really appalled if you lost one. They also write on pretty much anything in the same way regardless of paper quality.

If I was at a desk all the time I'd use a good fountain pen and a nice book or block of heavyweight paper, but I'm not.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I've visited the town where they make these - Boulder City, Nevada.

According to the wiki, the refills fit, or can be made to., a number of other ballpoint makes;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen

Whenever you see discussion on the web concerning quality ballpoint pens, Space Pens are one of the two makes which seem to keep getting mentioned; the other one is Caran D'Ache, from Switzerland.
 
I also have a rocking blotter, dip-pens and inkwells.

For those under the age of 50 who have no idea what a rocking blotter is....

260_elcasco-m750s.jpg
 
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